How To Embrace Your Defining Features

Nothing pleases me more than seeing some new buds on my Magnolias or buying a bunch of flowers to freshen up a freshly cleaned house.

But society tells you that it’s my girlfriend who should be the gardener and I should be in the garage working on the car. Well not only do I not own a car, but I can’t drive manual.

I know what defines me and not only do embrace it, I enjoy it to the extent that I can.

I don’t know how to play poker. Does that make me less of a man? Of course not.

Society says that I should be able to do a lot of things that I can’t. It also says I shouldn’t enjoy a lot of the things I do enjoy.

Fuck. That.

What would I achieve by suppressing the things that I know can make me happy?

Perhaps we can blame Hollywood or our parents for this interpretation of how individuals should behave. Perhaps we can blame the Kardashians or someone else who can wipe away tears with their bags of money, but blame won’t change anything.

What matters is mindset.

Hideaki Kobayashi, known as the 'Sailor Suit Old Man', has built up a reputation in Japan. We say, good on him!

How did you react to the above image? Why did you react that way? Perhaps because it’s unusual?

Perhaps because you’ve been conditioned to think that an old man should stay at home and mindlessly watch TV and fade into irrelevancy.

An old man, bald, in a schoolgirl dress with shaved legs- looking super kawaii, by the way.

I see happiness. He is ecstatic. He is having fun, being himself and not hurting anyone else in the process.

How many weird looks and remarks do you think this guy has been at the end of? But here he is, enjoying it.

People are afraid of what they don’t know. That is why xenophobia is so prevalent in modern culture. We don’t really understand.

As I said earlier, knowledge is power, so educate yourself in things that are new to you before you point the finger. What you say, says more about yourself.

This column will not change the world. It is my hope that it can plant a seed into the brain of at least one individual and that seed will turn into a passion that the owner of said brain can truly embrace and enjoy.

This is about finding what makes you happy and doing it, with a complete disregard for anything said by anyone else.

Ignorance can be a good way to fight those that are too critical. Those that mind, don’t matter. Those that matter, don’t mind. Negative comments say more about the person making the remarks than they do anyone else.

Take the fight up to overly-critical individuals. Tell them why you are absolutely besotted by RC cars or haberdashery. Chances are that putting someone on the spot like this will leave them dumbfounded.

Recently I was asked if I was going to have ‘a big weekend of dirt examining’. I explained to those individuals how a slightly alkaline pH level in my soil during winter can make fruit bearing trees less productive come spring. Knowledge is power. Quite often, proving your love for something can take someone by surprise.

You’re on a huge rock floating through space. You’re only going to be around for another 40-80 sun revolutions. Don’t waste that time worrying what other uneducated people think of you.

Be super kawaii, do what makes you happy.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Phil Forbes – The Aussie in Poland. Dinosaur nut, Simpsons quote fiend, post-rock enthusiast with a strage addiction to all things mint. When he grows up he wants to be a dinsosaur and/or stormtrooper. Writer at shoplo.com/gb